3 NBA DraftKings Studs to Target on 1/12/21

While building a daily fantasy basketball lineup, it's important to make sure you find the right studs to anchor your team. As the most expensive players in your lineup, they need big-time production to match their high salaries.

You may find it hard to fit some of these guys in while staying under the salary cap, but you can check out our projections to find value players for your rosters. Let's take a look at the top high-salaried DraftKings plays of the day.

Kevin Durant, PF, Brooklyn Nets

DraftKings Price: $9,400

On Sunday, Kevin Durant had his first chance to be the unprecedented top option for Brooklyn in the absence of Kyrie Irving. With the latter dealing with a personal matter, the former used a season high 35.2% of his team's possessions, according to NBA.com. In doing so, he attempted 21 shots, knocking down 11 for 36 points and 11 rebounds. His total of 58.25 DraftKings points should have necessitated a bump in salary, but the $200 increase is not nearly enough.

If Durant is playing 35-plus minutes and using more than 30% of the possessions, he can compete with the three players priced above $10,000. Not only is KD averaging a cool 49.6 DK points per game this season, but in games in which he's played at least 35 minutes, he has posted 52.7 DK points for an average return of 5.8 points per $1,000 of salary.

The matchup isn't a bad one, either. The Denver Nuggets are 21st in scoring defense and 25th in defensive efficiency to this point. And without an athletic presence at power forward, they have allowed 44.6 DK points per game to power forwards, according to FantasyPros' positional data. Durant is poised to pop off with all the opportunity in front of him.

Domantas Sabonis, PF/C, Indiana Pacers

DraftKings Price: $9,300

Domantas Sabonis is quietly going about his business and enjoying a monster start to the season. In his 37.7 minutes a night, the versatile big man has boosted his production from a year ago in points (from 18.5 to 21.6), rebounds (from 12.4 to 12.6) and assists (5.0 to 6.1), all while shooting 56.3% from the floor and 42.9% from three.

Sabonis' peripherals are just as impressive. He is second on the team in both usage rate and assist rate, and his 16.8% rebound rate is nearly double that of true center Myles Turner's. He does it all from the power forward and center slots.

The Golden State Warriors will present the Indiana Pacers with a pace increase tonight, which serves to only heighten Sabonis' ceiling. A 50-fantasy-point night is well within reach in a game with a 226.5-point over/under.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, PG, Oklahoma City Thunder

DraftKings Price: $8,000

Of all young studs showing out across the Association (looking at you, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum and LaMelo Ball), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander seems to be flying under the radar despite a scorching hot stretch. Over the last three games, the Oklahoma City floor general has upped his game, averaging 25.7 points, 7.7 assists, 7.0 rebounds for 52.4 DK points a game.

Whether it's because of SGA's play or not, the OKC offense has scored an average of 113.7 points per game in that same span. That's a difference of +13.2 over their average prior to January 6th. They're fresh off a 129-point outing, and while NBA Finals odds has them pegged for a touch more than 107 points, it would be hard to see OKC not out-scoring that number against the Spurs

In allowing 110.1 points per 100 possessions, San Antonio has been hit up for 113.1 points per game, including 25.3 (48.7 DK points) from the point guard position. SGA is set up nicely from Tuesday's third tier of fantasy stars.

Brett Oswalt is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Brett Oswalt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username BRO14THEKID. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.